Pan-Pacific Auditorium facts for kids
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Pan-Pacific Auditorium
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Formerly listed on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places
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Entrance of the Pan-Pacific Auditorium, 1970s
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 Location in California
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| Location | 7600 W. Beverly Blvd. |
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| Built | 1935 |
| NRHP reference No. | 78000688 |
Quick facts for kids Significant dates |
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| Added to NRHP | June 16, 1978 |
| Removed from NRHP | September 27, 1989 |
The Pan-Pacific Auditorium was a famous building in the Fairfax District of Los Angeles, California. It was near where Gilmore Field used to be, an old baseball park before Dodger Stadium was built. You could see it from CBS Television City and the Farmers Market.
For over 35 years, it was the top spot for indoor public events in Los Angeles. The building closed in 1972. For 17 years, it was left alone and fell apart. In 1978, the Pan-Pacific Auditorium was added to the National Register of Historic Places. But eleven years later, this large wooden building was destroyed by a fire.
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A Cool Building Design
The Pan-Pacific Auditorium was built by event planners Phillip and Cliff Henderson. It was designed by architects Wurdeman & Becket. The auditorium opened on May 18, 1935, with a big show for a model home exhibition.
Streamline Moderne Style
This building was known as one of the best examples of Streamline Moderne architecture in the United States. This style uses smooth lines and rounded shapes, like a fast train or airplane. The front of the building was green and white. It was about 228 feet (69 meters) long. It had four cool towers and flagpoles that looked like airplane fins.
The famous front of the building looked very modern. But behind it was a simple wooden structure. It looked like a very large gym. The auditorium covered 100,000 square feet (9,290 square meters). It could seat up to 6,000 people.
Events and Famous Visitors
For more than 30 years, the Pan-Pacific hosted many different events. It was home to the Ice Capades and the Harlem Globetrotters. It also hosted the Los Angeles Monarchs hockey team and college basketball games for UCLA and USC.
Other events included professional tennis, car shows, and circuses. In the 1940s, national radio shows were broadcast live from there. In the 1950s, televised wrestling shows took place. At its busiest, most big indoor events in Los Angeles happened at the Pan-Pacific.
Many famous people visited the auditorium:
- Leopold Stokowski conducted music there in 1936.
- Actress Jeanne Crain was crowned "Miss Pan Pacific" in the early 1940s.
- General Dwight D. Eisenhower spoke to 10,000 people in 1952. He became President a month later.
- Elvis Presley performed there in 1957.
- Vice President Richard Nixon spoke to a national audience in 1960.
The Pan-Pacific was Los Angeles' main indoor venue until 1972. That year, the much larger Los Angeles Convention Center opened. After that, the Pan-Pacific Auditorium closed its doors.
Falling Apart and Fire
People in the nearby Fairfax District hoped to fix up the Pan-Pacific. They thought it could become an ice rink or a cultural center. The parking lot was even turned into a park. However, the building was left alone for many years. Small fires started by people living there caused damage.
Appearances in Movies and Videos
The Pan-Pacific appeared briefly in the 1975 movie Funny Lady. Interest in the building grew when it was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1978.
In 1980, the movie musical Xanadu came out. The auditorium's front was used to show a run-down building. In the movie, it became a bright roller disco nightclub. This gave people hope the building might be saved. However, the movie was not very popular.
The building also appeared in music videos:
- The 1980 Barnes & Barnes song "Fish Heads".
- The 1981 Devo song ""Beautiful World"" showed a man with a jet pack flying in front of it.
- "Dancing in the Sheets" by Shalamar used the old front of the building.
- Its last movie appearance was in the 1988 film Miracle Mile.
The auditorium continued to get worse through the 1980s. This was mostly due to neglect. A large loading door was often forced open, letting anyone go inside. A fire in May 1983 damaged the north end of the building.
On the evening of May 24, 1989, the Pan-Pacific Auditorium was destroyed by a fire. This was six days after its 54th anniversary. Smoke from the fire could be seen all over Los Angeles.
The Site Today
The area where the auditorium once stood is now Pan-Pacific Park. It has a recreation center that opened in 2002. This center includes a smaller copy of one of the famous towers from the original building.
Pan-Pacific in Pop Culture
The front of the building was used in the movie Xanadu. In the film, a muse (a daughter of Zeus) helps two men turn the old building into a music and entertainment place. Special effects made the building look amazing, even better than it was before.
The music video for "She's My Girl" by The Babys showed the band playing in front of and on top of the building.
Similarly, The Producers' 1982 music video "She Sheila" was partly filmed there.
The 1984 movie Ghost Warrior also showed the building. This movie is about a 400-year-old samurai who comes back to life in Los Angeles. Scenes show the very old front of the building and its dimly lit inside. You can briefly see the columns and arches inside.
The music video for the 1988 song "Going Back to Cali" by LL Cool J starts with a black and white photo of the building.
A large, similar version of the Pan-Pacific's front opened as the main entrance to Disney's Hollywood Studios theme park. This park is at the Walt Disney World Resort in Orlando, Florida. It opened on May 1, 1989, just three weeks before the real building burned down.
Disney California Adventure Park, at the Disneyland Resort, also has new entrance gates that look like the Pan-Pacific's front. These opened on July 15, 2011.
Images for kids
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The fire of May 24th, 1989
